Lloyds to axe 4,500 jobs

Banking giant Lloyds is to axe thousands more jobs and move some work overseas in a "devastating blow" to its workers, unions said today.

The part-nationalised bank is to cut 4,500 jobs, taking the total number of losses to 20,000 since the start of last year, officials said.

Accord said around 1,700 of the cuts will be overseas, with the rest affecting permanent, temporary and contracting jobs in the UK.

Deputy general secretary Clive Webster said: "Accord believes that today's announcement will be devastating for the hard-working and professional employees who are affected.

"Whilst we welcome the fact that Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is cutting back on UK and offshore contractors rather than making redundant an even larger number of permanent staff, the fact is that after today's announcement around 2,750 UK taxpayers who currently work for LBG will lose their jobs and their income.

"In a difficult economic climate, the chances of them finding similar roles will be very slim.

"Over the past few weeks we heard lots of comments from senior bankers in the UK that they recognise that they have to change how they behave and operate and recognise that they have wider responsibilities than just what is legal and profitable. Accord believes that actions speak louder than words."

Cath Speight, national officer at Unite, said: "It is an absolute disgrace that Lloyds Banking Group, which is being kept alive by the taxpayer, is cutting more jobs and moving their jobs out of the UK.

"It is now time for the Government to step in and demand answers on behalf of taxpayers and staff. The announcement of 4,500 job cuts today lets down their staff, customers and the taxpayers with no acknowledgement of LBG's social responsibilities.

"This bank is racing around the globe in their pursuit of profit. Instead of moving jobs from this country, they should wake up and realise the importance of their skilled workforce.

"Since the taxpayer stepped in to keep this bank afloat, the management have shown no acknowledgement for the dedication of their staff who have ensured it can continue to service their customers, instead rewarding them with over 20,000 job cuts."

Lloyds said it had made "good progress" on its three-year integration programme which it said will be completed at the end of 2011, and was now putting in place its Group IT organisational structure for 2012.

The bank said 1,600 permanent roles will be affected across the UK, 1,150 temporary and contract staff will be "released" and a further 1,750 offshore contractor jobs will be cut.

A statement said: "Lloyds Banking Group is committed to working through these changes with employees carefully and sensitively. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager today. The group's union partners were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted throughout the process.

"The group's policy is to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. By making less use of contractors and agency employees it reduces the impact on permanent staff.

"Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering voluntary severance. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort."

Mark Fisher, director of group operations at Lloyds Banking Group, said: "Today marks another major step in bringing our businesses together. The changes we are putting in place will give us a world-class IT operation that will benefit our customers and all our other stakeholders.

"We will work closely with the colleagues affected by today's announcement to help them through these changes. We have mitigated the impact on permanent staff with a significant release of temporary and contract staff."

Union officials said they had been told 450 permanent and 550 temporary and contractors' jobs will be cut in London, 280 in the Chester area, at least 125 in Edinburgh, over 200 in Halifax and around 50 in Pudsey, West Yorkshire.